Testimonials

How RJL Products are used:

Bioelectrical Impedance Analysis (BIA) in Clinical Practice

“The addition of RJL Systems Bioelectrical impedance Analysis (BIA) testing into the nutrition and weight management branch of my practice has been a great new tool for patient education and compliance. The BIA and associated software allows me to teach patients about body composition visually and help them to really understand that weight loss does not always equal fat loss.

By assuring patients that we are going to be keeping track of both their lean and fat mass, I am able to help them feel confident that we will avoid one of the pitfalls most dieters face. As I tell my patients, most diets consist of an unrealistic “too much too fast” approach that initially renders impressive results on the scale. However, on further examination, it is realized that most people’s crash diets leave them worse off than they started and set them up for a cycle of yo-yo dieting. By severely limiting caloric intake, they are left feeling sluggish and less active. These patients wind up quickly becoming dehydrated in an effort to impress themselves on the scale. When the crash diet is over, they have effectively reduced their lean muscle mass by deprivation and inactivity and thus reduced their metabolic rate even further. As soon as they re-hydrate and put their weight back on they are now less metabolically active, discouraged and have picked up bad habits.

By keeping track of body composition with BIA, there is no fooling the scale. Patients who are doing their strength training homework and following their nutrition plan gain lean mass and lose fat weight. If their weight spikes we can see which compartment it went into and make the appropriate adjustment. If it drops, we can make sure they are losing fat weight rather than muscle or water and thus prevent rebound weight gain. By graphing each compartment every visit, the patient can see that they are not just losing weight, they are actively changing their body composition to improve their health.”

Dr. Anton DietzenChicago Health and Physical Therapy, Chicago, IL

Measuring Grizzly Bears with BIA

We have been involved in measuring the body fat of grizzly bears for 10 years. The Quantum II will be used for continued research and monitoring grizzly and black bear body condition and health. BFI will be an indicator of habitat quality/effectiveness and food availability for bears.

Kevin Frey
Montana Fish and Wildlife Parks, Bozeman, Montana

National Institute of Health (NIH) Funded, Large, Multi-Country Study

“The Department of Preventive Medicine and Epidemiology at Loyola University’s Stritch School of Medicine is conducting a large/multi-country study funded by the National Institute of Health (NIH), investigating the relationship between physical activity and diet on cardiovascular disease and diabetes. The study is titled: “Modeling the Epidemiological Transition Study” or METS. METS is headed up by Dr. Amy Luke and is being conducted in 5 countries: USA, Jamaica, South Africa, Ghana and Seychelles, each site has 500 participants. Data is collected at baseline and again after a two year follow up. Associations between body composition changes across the 5 sites and across the three year time period will be explored. Body composition, including fat free mass, fat mass and total body water is estimated at each site with RJL’s bioelectrical impendence Quantum X unit.”

Among humans, too much body fat is considered unhealthy and most adults know that rich fatty foods are not good diet choices for them. Polar bears are exactly the opposite – they seek out rich fatty foods. Polar bear cubs drink milk with more fat in it than the thickest coffee cream available. When seals are abundant, bears eat only the fat and leave the meat for foxes and gulls. Polar bears are experts in fasting; they can live without food for more than half a year. They have the remarkable ability to deposit and store fat that can be burned off later when food is scarce or unavailable. For polar bears, fat is vital for survival and is especially vital for females when they reproduce. Female polar bears need to get fattened up in autumn to be able to give birth to cubs and produce milk, and also have enough energy to return to the sea ice to hunt and catch seals to ensure their cubs survive their first years. Fat is also a vital part of insulation for bears, particularly when swimming in cold water. A skinny bear will be cooled down much faster than a fat bear. Norwegian Polar Institute is currently using RJL BIA Analyzers to record impedance (bodycomposition) measurements – along with recording their weight and length – to calculate how much body fat bears have. We can look at factors such as climate (sea ice conditions), age, disease and other variables to assess how they affect the condition of the bears. Female bears experience additional stress to their bodies as part of giving birth and nurturing cubs. When we re test tagged bears over time, we can also statistically predict the chances that cubs are in good or bad condition and can survive until weaned from their mothers. In summary, fat is vital for polar bears; being able to quantify how much body fat each bear has is very important when studying their survival rates.

Jon Aars
Norwegian Polar Institute

Support and Quality

After an extensive MEDLINE and internet search of body composition analyzers manufactured within and outside of the United States, I was delighted to learn about a close to home company, RJL Systems. Their products are well referenced in the medical literature, especially with regard to the assessment of the obese or “normal weight” obese patient. Their Quantum IV bioelectrical impedance analysis device is compact and very easy and intuitive to use. Support and quality have been superb. We are very happy with our choice.

We have incorporated BIA as part of our ongoing study of the pregnancy complication preeclampsia. Preeclampsia (new onset hypertension and proteinuria during pregnancy) is a significant complication of pregnancy, affecting approximately 4% of all pregnancies and is the cause of over 500,000 maternal and fetal deaths per year world-wide, 25% of all fetal growth restriction and 15% of preterm births. Pre-pregnancy obesity is the single most common significant risk factor contributing to preeclampsia, and increases the risk of preeclampsia over three-fold compared to lean women. Since 2009 we have incorporated BIA in the evaluation of all pregnant women enrolled in our ongoing study of preeclampsia in order to investigate differences in body fat and body composition. Our research staff uses RJL’s Quantum IV Bioelectrical Body Composition Analyzer every day. Both our research staff and the pregnant women enrolled in our study appreciate the ease and reliability of this instrument, and it is proving to be a valuable tool in our study of this important complication of pregnancy.

The RJL unit is used by our personal trainers, dietitian, and weight loss challenge staff as well as an incentive for new member specials. We really value the quality of information and ease of use of our RJL unit.